Tag Archives: Politicians

Shady cash from Vladimir Putin’s Russian energy oligarchs and other rich donors is being laundered through Bermuda-based lawyers and middlemen to “green” pressure groups, lobbyists and spinmeisters – to promote “green energy” schemes that bring billions of dollars from government agencies (and thus from us taxpayers and consumers) to a cabal of billionaires and crony companies. At the epicenter are hedge fund millionaire Nathaniel Simons, his wife Laura and their secretive Sea Change Foundation. “Investors” become even wealthier, as billions of dollars are transferred annually to environmentalists, scientists, politicians, bureaucrats and crony-corporatists in Renewable Energy & Climate Crisis, Inc. The alleged “urgency” of replacing fossil fuels with “eco-friendly renewable energy” (to prevent catastrophic manmade climate change) drives and excuses operations that define or barely skirt “corrupt practices.” The arrangements are too convoluted to explain in one article. Even the US Senate’s “Billionaires’ Club” report, Environmental Policy Alliance’s “From Russia with Love” study, and articles by investigative journalists like Ron Arnold and Lachlan Markay (here, here and here) barely scratch the surface. Washington is out of control. The IRS targeting conservative groups, Clinton Foundation and national security scandals, FBI pseudo-investigations and whitewashing, bureaucrats imposing $1.9 trillion in economy-crushing regulations that ruin families and communities – with virtually no perpetrators ever held accountable. Read the essay here 16:12

Dutch fishermen are planning a series of protests against European rules that they claim are destroying their industry. The ‘Eendracht Maakt Kracht’ (‘Unity Is Strength’) movement says it wants to inform the public about ‘the real story’ of Brussels interference. ‘Fishermen are tired of the lies of politicians and environmental organisations,’ spokesman Jan de Boer told the Volkskrant. EMK’s main grievance is with the fishing quotas imposed by Brussels and the tide of regulation that comes with them. The group, which evolved from a WhatsApp community in fishing communities such as Urk, is also critical of the existing representative groups in the industry, which it says have failed to stand up for fishermen’s interests. ‘The groups in the fisheries sector are always in talks but never strike a blow,’ said De Boer. Read the rest here 08:52

This is what government looks like to us. Politicians a very long way from the action have or adopt ideas that range from the sensible to the downright idiotic. Without an effective check from an emaciated, austerity-hit civil service, they reach out to “stakeholders” – often organisations with no “stake” at all, such as green activists funded by giant multinationals – who hand them ready-made proposals for new regulations and laws. Once these policies are enacted, the politicians turn to the people and communities most affected and say, Read the rest here 07:37

“This is understandable, this is generational work,” said Bodine. “They like what they’re doing. They like being their own boss. It’s difficult for them (to transition). They can make quite a bit of money out there, so it’s kind of a hard sell, to go to making less money after taxes and reporting to someone else.” Read the rest here 17:19

“Our people know what they’re doing at sea.” That’s the common refrain of city and state politicians alike as they try to convince industry leaders and the public that New Bedford should be America’s offshore wind hub. “There is a big feeling that this is just another thing encroaching on us,” said seafood consultant Jim Kendall. “But we know we’ll have to coexist to survive.” Read more here 08:18

But Bullard was the person who made the official decision to slash quotas to rebuild stocks, and there were many in the crowd who are angry at him for that. Finally, after the speeches had ended, Paul Vitale, of Gloucester, owner of the 50-foot trawler Angela and Rose out of Gloucester, broke the silence over Bullard, angrily challenging Bullard to explain himself, but Bullard said nothing. Vitale told The Standard-Times that with the new quotas, he will be fishing “one or two times a month” and is looking for outside work. continued

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here